The new kid in school is making friends fast
Hi! I’m Paul, one of Catalog Choice’s six Merchant Account Managers. My job is to convince catalog companies to accept your opt out requests – not a task for the faint-of-heart!
Catalog companies are a bit like high school students— and Catalog Choice is the new kid at school. So, the companies are gossiping, and trying to find out how to treat the new kid who’s trying to make a lot of new friends.
Each day at the office feels a bit like starting a new school; you don’t know if a company will like you or if they will try to beat you up and take your lunch money. You never know until you actually get someone on the phone—which often requires some creative tactics and lots of patience.
Today, after doing some research, I found the name of the VP of Marketing of a smaller catalog retailer. Using the company’s convenient “Dial By Name” directory, I was able to quickly get “Steve” on the phone. Steve hadn’t heard of our service but was very interested – and even complimented our “simple, well designed, easy to use” webpage. He understood how our service will save his company money and resources. Steve will be creating an account to process your opt out requests.
This is the best-case scenario. Now, a look at the worst:
Yesterday, after having a tough time getting a hold of anyone, I finally got on the phone with James, Director of Public Relations for a major catalog company (which prides itself on supporting “conservation”). The first call lasted 30 seconds. I told him who I was, where I was calling from, and he *literally* said “I’ve heard of your service, and I’m not interested,” and simply hung up.
Since I don’t like taking no for an answer, I called back: “Hey James, this is Paul - did we get cut off?” and he responded “No, I’m just not interested.”
“So, what do I tell the 25,000 people who have expressed their mailing preferences using our site, James?”
“Tell them they can call us directly.”
“Are you saying you want 25,000 phone calls into your call center?”
“I’m saying I’m not interested” (hangs up phone).
These two examples represent both ends of a wide spectrum: some merchants are willing to work with us after a little convincing; others are more diplomatic in explaining why they don’t want to honor your opt out requests; and some simply don’t pick up the phone when I call them – day after day, week after week.
So, what does this mean for the 400,000 individuals who are using our site to opt out of more than five million catalogs? Is the new kid going to get beat up by the big boys and have to hide in the library every day at lunch?
Not at all. There’s a new kid in school – and we’re making friends fast, whether the popular kids like it or not. We are a powerful team of six merchant account managers working hard to fulfill the opt out requests of a community of people that has grown to nearly 400,000 strong – and we are not taking no for an answer.